Ousted President Manuel Zelaya returns to Honduras

Manuel Zelaya, the ousted president of Honduras, has returned to Honduras to reclaim his presidency nearly three months after he was deposed.

Manuel Zelaya has taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy in TegucigalpaPhoto: REUTERS

By our foreign staff and agencies in Tegucigalpa

11:29PM BST 21 Sep 2009

"I am here in Tegucigalpa. I am here for the restoration of democracy, to call for dialogue," Mr Zelaya told Honduran television.

The interim government ordered a 15-hour curfew after Mr Zelaya's dramatic return to Telucigalpa, the capital, where he took shelter from arrest at Brazil's embassy.

As thousands of supporters gathered outside the embassy to celebrate, the Left-leaning president called for negotiations with the leaders who forced him from the country at gunpoint in June.

Mr Zelaya's ouster in a dispute over presidential term limits plunged Honduras into its worst political crisis in decades, and was criticised by US President Barack Obama, the European Union and Latin American governments.

His return raises the stakes for the conservative de facto government, which was installed after the coup and which has defied international pressure to let Mr Zelaya return.

If the current administration attempts to imprison Mr Zelaya, protesters who have demonstrated against his ouster could turn violent, said Vicki Gass at the Washington Office on Latin America.

"There's a saying about Honduras that people can argue in the morning and have dinner in the evening, but I'm not sure this will happen in this case," said Ms Gass. "It's been 86 days since the coup. Something had to break and this might be it."